Hill Country Buck
12-06-2010, 09:49 PM
#1
Boone & Crockett
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: The Republic of Texas
Posts: 11,875
Hill Country Buck
Tagged this guy on the evening of 12/5/2010. I was sitting in a box blind watching an area of the pasture that I hadn't hunted since 2006. Saw 4 very nice, beautifully symmetrical 8-points. They spent the afternoon running after the ladies, and stopping by to eat a little corn to keep their energy up. Unfortunately, they were all too young to shoot. This guy walked in at about 5:15 pm. He had the upper body build of a bulldog. Big neck. Heavy through the shoulders. And, he was obviously the neighborhood bully, as the four young bucks were all being very deferential to him, backing off as he strutted about. The way he walked reminded me of Bambi's dad... He "strutted" moreso than "walked."
But, despite the body size, and the fact that he was obviously at least two years older than the other bucks, he had a scraggly, thin, inferior set of antlers. I didn't like the fact that this guy would push better bucks off the does, so, I decided to "manage" him out of the herd. I lined up the crosshairs of my Pentax 4-12X scope in the crease right behind his left shoulder and slowly squeezed the trigger. My Model 700 7mm-08 put the 140 grain Core-Lokt slug exactly where I had aimed, leaving a near fist sized exit wound through the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th ribs on the other side. He turned, took two steps, and went down.
Fortunately, inferior antler genes don't have an adverse effect on the taste of fried backstraps...
But, despite the body size, and the fact that he was obviously at least two years older than the other bucks, he had a scraggly, thin, inferior set of antlers. I didn't like the fact that this guy would push better bucks off the does, so, I decided to "manage" him out of the herd. I lined up the crosshairs of my Pentax 4-12X scope in the crease right behind his left shoulder and slowly squeezed the trigger. My Model 700 7mm-08 put the 140 grain Core-Lokt slug exactly where I had aimed, leaving a near fist sized exit wound through the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th ribs on the other side. He turned, took two steps, and went down.
Fortunately, inferior antler genes don't have an adverse effect on the taste of fried backstraps...
12-07-2010, 06:00 AM
#6
Boone & Crockett
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: The Republic of Texas
Posts: 11,875
Originally Posted by stabnslab_WI
That is for sure a nice cull buck! Just curious what the weight would be on a texas buck of that age?
I hunt in the Hill Country, where most of what they can eat is dust and cactus needles... He weighed 130 pounds. The bucks were generally a bit heavier three weeks ago. They've run about 15 pounds off chasing does...
